Dreams
by hearttorn
Summary: Sookie is having strange dreams... what do they mean?
1. Chapter 1

I lie on my bed, irritated at being awakened by yet another odd dream. How was I supposed to heal if I couldn't sleep through the night? I sighed, and rolled myself out of bed. Pulling on my ratty old bathrobe, I made my way downstairs. A light was on in the kitchen already.

"Amelia...? Honey, you can't sleep, either?" I asked.

"Oh, hey, Sook. No, I just... no. Gave up trying and decided to try some tea instead." Ever since the Fairy War and the death of Tray, my roomie Amelia has been having a hard time of it. They hadn't been dating that long, but I guess she'd gotten pretty attached to him. 

"It's just... nights are the hardest, you know?" I nodded. "I miss him so much, holding me while I slept, and... well, you know."

"Yeah. I definitely know." 

Talk about understatement of the year. I'd made Eric - well, there is no exact human phrase for what he is, to call a 1,000 year old vampire your boyfriend seems a bit silly, but we were blood bonded, and in the vampire world pledged by the knife, which made us sort of married - leave me alone while I healed. I told him it was because I couldn't stand for him to see me like this - the body that he loved to worship so disgustingly cut, scabbed, gouged and maimed by the delighted attacks of Lochlan and Neave, the faery world's version of hitmen. But really, it was because I was hurt, so horribly hurt, that I cried out for him, over and over during my attack, and he didn't come. Eric always came to my rescue - even some times when I could've handled things just fine on my own. But this time, the time I was truly in over my head, he let my ex-boyfriend, his subordinate vamp Bill Compton, rescue me. It had hurt me to the core, and I was trying to figure out exactly what I wanted our relationship to be in the future. I knew we'd always have a blood bond, but I just didn't know how I could move forward.

The worst part was, I missed him. Horribly. Terribly. Like a missing limb (which I almost knew about from personal experience). And the nights, obviously, were the worst. I mean, you can't exactly hang out with vamps during the day, now, can you? But going from spending your nights with Eric to spending them alone, in pain, and now stuck with odd dreams, well, it was like being given the richest, most decadent chocolate on Earth, taking a bite, then being given sugar-free. You know it's probably better for you, but it still sucks. And I knew sending him away, when all he wanted was to care for me and heal me with his blood, was horribly hurtful to him as well. I just felt like I had no choice. I was sick of being manipulated by vampires though - I'd had enough of that with Bill to last me a lifetime - and if Eric was getting ready to hurt me in any way, well, I'd rather do a pre-emptive strike, save myself some heartache for once. 

"Why can't you sleep?" Amelia was asking. "Are you in pain? Do you need another pain pill?"

"No, it's not that. I just..."

"Just what? You can tell me, Sookie." 

"Well, I've been having the oddest dreams." I finally answered, feeling a little sheepish. I'm a bit past the age to be scared from nightmares, and Lord knows I've lived through worse than what most people consider nightmares, anyway.

From the look on her face, this was not the answer Amelia was expecting. "Dreams? Like, what kind of dreams?" 

I sighed. "Well, they're kinda hard to explain. I keep seeing myself, in places I've never seen before, and I think from the outfits I'm wearing different times in history. Not during my lifetime. And people keep trying to make me do things I don't want to do, and I keep getting upset and waking myself up. And..."

"And what?"

"Well, I know this is probably just my subconscious talking because I miss Eric, but I keep having one dream over and over."

"If it involves the words "Eric" and "dream," I probably _do not_ want to know," Amelia said with the first sign of humor I'd seen since Tray's death.

"Stop!" I said, blushing. "It wasn't a dream like that. It was... well, in my dream, I'm wearing what I can tell are clothes from Viking times. And I'm kneeling at the side of a beautiful lake, picking flowers, when suddenly Eric was there. But Amelia, he was human. He had been out hunting and he came across me with my little bunch of flowers. And it was like we looked at each other and we just _knew_ - you know how in romance novels that always happens? Two lovers see each other and it's love at first sight?" Amelia nodded. "Well, we did. And he asked me to meet him that night by the road - that we would run away together and get married."

"Eric said this? That you would get married?"

"I know, right? But here's the thing - he said it in Old Norse. And I understood. And I answered him! I mean, he's spoken that sometimes when we're..." I trailed off. "But I can't understand it, much less speak it! I told him my family would be upset, and he said he would go to them after we had married and show them what a suitable husband he would make. And, then the dream shifts, and it's night time, and I'm waiting by a road waiting for him. It's cold and clear out, and I can't see him, but I can feel him coming, and all of a sudden there's a rush of air and movement in the trees and I'm running and running and he's gone and I can't find him -" I broke off, choked up, my eyes filling with tears. 

"Shhh, it's ok, Sook. But, Sookie...." Amelia stopped, like she didn't want to go on.

"What?"

"Those aren't dreams, hon, those are visions."

"Visions? Amelia, I've told you, I can't see visions, I can only hear thoughts. Telepathic, not psychic, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But Sookie, what you just described, knowing a language you don't speak, seeing times you didn't live through, those are not dreams. Those are visions. And those visions mean that you need to get dressed."

"Dressed? What are you talking about? Amelia, it's two o'clock in the morning!"

"Perfect!" she smiled. "Fangtasia just closed. Get dressed, Sookie, we're going to see Eric."

I said the first thing that popped into my head. "Oh, hell!"


	2. Chapter 2

I let Amelia drive. I was still too shaken from my fairy attack to drive much, and I was much too nervous about seeing Eric again to try to operate heavy machinery right now. Besides, how was I going to explain this little piece of idiocy to him? I'd be lucky if he didn't throw both Amelia and I bodily out of his office. 

We pulled in to the parking lot just as Pam was enjoying one of her favorite nightly pastimes, ejecting the last of the fangbangers from the bar. I hung back behind Amelia, wishing I was anywhere but where I was.

"Amelia!" Pam's voice sounded almost warm. "I'm most pleased to see you. I didn't think you would be out on social calls for quite some time yet."

"We aren't here to party, Pam, we need to see Eric. Is he here?" Amelia asked, pulling me out from behind her. 

"Sookie. I see you are healing." I rated a much colder tone, I noted. I guess I deserved that. I sighed mentally. "Yes, my Master is in his office. Let me lock up and I will take you to him. Would you like a drink, Amelia?" Oh, I was sooo clearly in the doghouse.

"No, thanks, we actually just need to see Eric, so if you could..." Amelia was clearly a woman on a mission. I hadn't seen her this energized in weeks. Glad my nightly torments were helping someone, anyway.

"I see. Well, follow me." Pam led the way down the hall to Eric's office. She knocked and stuck her head around the door. "Master, you have guests. Most surprising ones."

And she pushed open the door and there he was. The most beautiful man I'd ever seen. So gloriously tall, strikingly handsome, with piercing blue eyes and flowing blonde hair. And inside him, in the place of his own once-beating heart, he held my own. I must've made some indication of pain, because Amelia reached down and took my hand.

And damn him, he misses NOTHING. His eyes had sparked to life when he saw me, but he hissed when he saw my pain, and I felt him, through the bond, tamp down his eagerness, saw him take in Amelia's comforting gesture, recoil that I could need comfort from HIM, and - wait a minute! Where did he go?!?! I probed the bond, trying to feel him, get a read on his emotions.

Blank.

Just like his face.

That bastard shut down the bond!

Fine, two can play this game.

He gestured for us to sit in his guest chairs. "Sookie, witch- I mean, Amelia, what can I do for you?" He looked at me, trying to get a read on me. I pulled on my best "blank" face and shook my head, refusing to answer. I could feel both Pam and Amelia sigh.

Eric tried again. "Sookie, surely you didn't drive to Shreveport at 2 a.m. just to have a staring contest with me? You know you can never win a staring contest with a vampire." He chuckled.

Nothing. Take that, buddy. Shut down the bond on me, I'll shut you right back out.

Amelia had clearly decided enough was enough. "Eric, the reason we are here is because Sookie has been having visions."

Eric actually looked slightly puzzled. "Visions? But Sookie can't-"

"Exactly."

He collected himself. "And these visions concern me why?" he asked lazily, leaning back in his chair. Oh real nice, buddy. Charming.

"Because," Amelia said through gritted teeth, " the visions are of you and she, together, and I suspect they are of when you were human."

"Aren't those called dreams, witch?"

"Nooo, they are visions," Amelia patiently explained, as to a child. I inwardly chuckled and resolved to do something very nice for my friend for baiting him like this. "Sookie can see times she didn't live in, and understand languages she never learned. She can even speak Old Norse in the visions."

"Sookie cannot speak Old -"

"Jag älskade väntar."

Eric's head whipped around to me, Pam hissed, Amelia looked shocked and even I was stunned. Where did that come from?

"Leave us," Eric commanded. Pam and Amelia beat a hasty retreat. No sooner had the door shut then he was around the desk and kneeling in front of my chair, hands gripping my arms.

"Where did you learn that?" the look on his face was enough scare any sane person right out of the room. Unluckily for me, I'd been considered "Crazy Sookie" for too long.

"Open the bond back up."

"Why?" he snarled. "You don't want it. You don't want me. You sent me away when all I wanted to do was care for you! Now, answer me: where did you learn that?"

"Open it." I set my jaw and glared.

"Fine! You want to feel everything I've been feeling?" A tidal wave of emotions swirled over me, literally knocking me backward in the chair. Anger, rage, pain, lust, fear, guilt, love (love?), loneliness, all came sweeping over me and I gasped, almost drowning under their weight. It took everything I had to pull myself together, back upright in the chair, face him.

"Now," he said in a much quieter voice, "where did you learn that?"

"Just like Amelia said. From the visions. Well, dreams, visions, whatever they are. I didn't even know I remembered it until I opened my mouth. What did I say?"

"You said, 'beloved I will be waiting.'" What does this mean, in your visions?"

I sighed. "Are you sure you want to hear this? You aren't going to like it."

"You have got to be the most exasperating woman I have ever met! You show up in my office after not speaking to me for weeks, speaking a language that no one has spoken to me for centuries, calling me 'beloved,' yes! I want to hear it!" he roared.

I sighed. "I don't remember everything. Like I said, I didn't even know I remembered what I said to you earlier. I remember that I was sitting next to a beautiful lake, and you walked out of the woods. You were human. I could tell you had been hunting. You seemed surprised to see me there; I was surprised to see you there. And, it was like, everything just clicked, and everything made sense and we knew, and we talked and you asked me to meet you at the road at dark. We were going to go get married."

"Married?"

"See, I knew you didn't want to hear it -"

"I am sorry, my lover, please continue."

Wow. Eric apologizing. Huh. "Um, anyway, you asked me if I was sure I would meet you, and I said -"

"Beloved, I will be waiting," he supplied.

"Right. But the next thing I know, it's dark and I'm waiting. I can't see you coming, but I can feel you, even though we don't have a bond. And suddenly you're gone. There's a rush of wind and movement in the trees and you're gone and I know something's wrong and I'm running, running, and I can't find you anywhere, no matter how hard I look. And I wake up crying." I suddenly realized I was crying, sobbing actually, in Eric's office, clutching his shirt. 

I could feel him hesitant about how to proceed. "Sookie...? Lover, I am here. I am right here." He lifted me out of the chair, sat in it, tucked me in his lap, wrapped his arms around me. He rubbed small, soothing circles on my back. I threw my arms around him and sobbed for all I was worth. 

"Eric... in that shack..." I could feel him stiffen. "No, Eric, please, I have to say this. In that shack, with Lochlan and Neave, I kept waiting for you and waiting for you. I kept expecting you to burst in the door at any minute and you never did. And in my heart I thought, 'if Eric doesn't come, if Eric leaves you, then you may as well let them finish it.' Then when Bill came in, I just gave up and thought, 'whatever happens, happens. If you don't make it, so be it.' When I saw you come into the hospital, I was so confused. You didn't rescue me, and all you seemed to care about was fighting fairies. Eric, I've spent the last few weeks trying to figure out where on Earth you could've been where you didn't hear me, couldn't get to me? I'm going crazy, and these dreams aren't helping. PLEASE tell me."

"Sookie. I - I did not want to tell you this, because I wanted you to have fond feelings for what little family you have left. But, very well, lover."


	3. Chapter 3

"Sookie, the reason I did not come to you when you were kidnapped, is simply that Niall would not let me."

"Niall... what?!?"

"Lover, Niall knew that only Bill and myself had had your blood. Of the two of us, of course I am bonded to you, and also I am the better tracker. He knew I would be able to find you faster than Bill. But your grandfather is a very wise man, Sookie. He knew what you just said, that if I ever left you, you... would not want to go on. He also knows that you can live without Bill. He took Bill with him because he knew that if he took me, and something were to happen to me, that you would not want to continue. He values you very much, just as I do.

Lover, as you can imagine, I did not agree willingly to his plan. It took your grandfather, Pam, and a strong dose of fae magic before I agreed. I only agreed because I knew that Niall's blood tie to you is even stronger than my own. Sookie, well, I don't compare what I went through with what you went through, but it was torture for me to hear you calling me, to feel your pain and be so helpless. It took almost every vampire in my area to keep me restrained and I still almost destroyed Fangtasia. We have only just gotten it put to rights. 

When I got to the hospital and I saw what they did to you, my beautiful beloved, I did the only thing I could. I healed you, as much as I could in the time I had, and then I went and took what vengeance I could. Beloved, I would've been there every night, caring for you, had you not sent me away. I do not care about the scars that bother you, the Sookie I love is on the inside. It is as I told you that night, 'you are still whole, you are still a person.' It is the person I love, not just the body. I love the person inside, but I will worship your body every night for the rest of your life if you will let me."

I sat there, stunned, my feet dangling off his lap. Whatever I expected to hear, it was not that. "You mean... my own grandfather wouldn't let you come to me? When he knew how much I needed you?"

"Lover, I hate it as much as you. But, I respected him as your family, and I knew he could find you faster than even I could. My only goal was finding you and getting you out - by whatever means were fastest."

I sat quietly on his lap, processing the information I had just been given. Not in any of my weeks of pondering and puzzling did I come up with this. Eric tiring of me, yes. Eric detained by vampire politics, sure. This was uncharted territory for us. The Viking on whose lap I sat had admitted he loved me, didn't care that I came in a pretty little package, and respected my family? These were all big things, in and of themselves.

I could feel Eric playing with a strand of my hair. He was hesitant about something, didn't want to ask until I was ready to talk again. I pulled myself out of my musings, looked in his eyes. "Eric?"

"Sookie, we need to discuss these...visions of yours more."


	4. Chapter 4

"You have had more than one vision?"

"Yes. I have had several dreams - well, whatever you want to call them - that seem to be set in historical times. Sometimes I recognize what I'm wearing or the places I am seeing from things I've seen on the History Channel, but not always. But the dream with you, it's been a recurring dream."

"Is there a theme to these dreams, lover?"

I sighed. "I seem to be looking for something in the other dreams, but I don't have any idea what, or who. Nothing is consistent. Sometimes people are trying to force things on me -" I felt him tighten into an angry stance - "no, not like that, but try to make me do things I didn't want to do. And I just wake up angry, and resentful, and confused."

"Sookie, about the dream, vision, of us. Describe to me, in more detail, of what happened when you were waiting for me on the road." He seemed very, very tense about something. His eyes were the darkest blue I had ever seen. He shifted me slightly in his lap to look more directly at my face.

"Well, like I said, I was waiting for you. And I felt you coming - I don't know how I knew you were there, but I knew it was you. It was very, very dark. There was hardly any moon." I thought hard, concentrated on the wisps of dream memory for details. "The road wasn't so much a road as just a little path in the woods, I guess. Suddenly there was a movement - like a lightning fast blur - through the trees. I didn't see anything or hear anything, but I felt a rush of wind. And you... you were gone."

"Lover, this is very, very perplexing. I don't know how you could know..." he trailed off. 

"Know what, Eric? What do I know, besides a few words of Norse that I didn't know I knew?"

"Sookie... I have never told another soul, not even Pam, the details of what happened to me the night I was turned."

"WHAT?" I squeaked. "Turned? But I don't - I can't - how would I? I mean, I..." I broke off, not being to string together any coherent thought.

"Exactly." Eric looked grim. "Sookie, I may not remember much about my human life, but every vampire remembers their turning. And I clearly remember walking along a little trail, just such a one as you describe, and being overtaken by something much more powerful than myself. And even though I was used to battle, it was on me faster than I knew and I... I could not overpower it. I was completely unawares."

"But Eric, I don't get it. How do I figure in here? How on Earth would I know about this in my dreams?"

"I don't exactly know, my lover, but I know someone who just might."


	5. Chapter 5

"WHO" might know what's going, Eric?" We were in his Corvette, heading faster than I was comfortable with along the highway.

"An old friend of mine. I've known her a long time. I mentioned her to you, once. She may be able to help us make sense of what these visions are. We'll just have to see when we get there, won't we?" He gave me his signature grin. 

Soon we pulled up to a nondescript house in a modest neighborhood. A medium range sedan sat in the driveway, a small security light burned over the front door. 

Eric came around and opened the door for me. "Shall we?" 

"I guess. I sure hope you aren't getting me into anymore vampire shit again." Suddenly another I was aware that there was another void standing in the driveway, another vampire. 

"I assure you, that while I may be a vampire, there's no - how did you put it? 'Vampire shit' that goes on here." A small, delicate woman was chuckling quietly at Eric's side. She had long, dark hair, large brown eyes and a calm, quiet countenance. 

"Sookie, may I present Mary Tolliver, psychic vampire extraordinaire." Eric gestured with a flourish. 

"THIS is the psychic you said you had?" 

"Well, he never HAD me," Mary said with a chuckle and a swat at Eric's ribs, "but he used my talent once, and he did try to sweep me off my feet. But he's not my type, shall we say. I don't like blondes!" She and Eric both started laughing hysterically at a shared joke. 

"Um, okay..." I was a bit lost.

"Sorry, lover, ages old joke. Vampire humor. But, let's get to the point, shall we? Mary, we are in need of your gift once again. My dear one here has been having some disturbing dreams and we are hoping you can help make some sense of them."

"Of course, I'm sorry, please come in." Mary led us into a modest living room, furnished much like any human living room I had ever seen. Couch, arm chairs, television. The two chairs sat next to each other in a conversational style. I looked around for a small table with a crystal ball.

"I'm afraid you won't find one. Don't need it. Totally useless." 

I looked at her sharply. "How did you... how did you know? Are you telepathic, too?"

Mary laughed. "No, everyone looks for the crystal ball. It's supposed to come part and parcel with being a psychic. But the reality is that being psychic is a gift, just like your telepathy. I don't need any tools to do it - it just happens."

I laughed. "Sorry. I should've known better. Me, of all people, right?" 

"It's okay. Have you ever been around someone else with a gift before?"

"No. I mean, well, vamps all have different talents - Eric can fly, Bill has a heightened sense of smell, you know. And my friend Sam is a shapeshifter. So just those types of gifts." 

"Well, this was my gift before I was turned. Luckily, it stuck." Mary laughed. "Why don't you have a seat in this armchair. Eric, you sit over there on the couch." He sank down into the sofa and stretched his long legs out in front of him. "I'll sit in this other chair next to you."

"What happens now?"

"Well, this will be a bit different than my usual readings, I should think. Usually, I'll take someone's hand and I can see what's going on in their head, and I relay that to them. Then I try to help them make sense of what they are seeing. I can help them tap into things that their conscious mind won't let them accept."

"That's what I do! Well, the part about holding someone's hand and seeing what's in their head. Except I usually can just see if they are telling the truth, and what thoughts are in their head."

Eric chuckled from the couch. "This should be interesting."

"That's what I meant about this being different from my usual reading. I can see what's in your head when I touch you, and you can see what's in mine when you touch me. So what I suggest is, why don't you tell me what you see when you read me? Since you are already trained to see truth, I think will be able to read what you see when I read you." Mary said.

"I've never tried anything like this before, but I guess we can give it a shot." I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and took Mary's hand.


	6. Chapter 6

EPOV

All was quiet in the room for a few minutes. Both women sat, holding hands, leaning towards each other, eyes closed. Eric watched from the couch as Sookie's eyes moved underneath her eyelids, as if dreaming. Suddenly she gasped slightly.

"What do you see, dearest?"

"There you are, Eric! You're alive! Oh, look at you - I can see you in the sun. I'm sitting by the lake and you're standing over me. The sun is shining in your hair and it looks like gold. Your cheeks are flushed and your skin is lovely. You're wearing a tunic and leather pants and carrying an axe. We're talking and you're asking me to meet you by the road at dusk."

"I wish I could see it, lover. I wish I could see you in the sun, too. I'm sure you are even more beautiful than you are by moonlight." Eric's voice was wistful. 

"I'm waiting for you by the road. I can hear... whistling?" 

"Whistling? Eric whispered. "Oh. I had forgotten."

"Yes, you're whistling and coming around the bend and I can hear a rustling in the trees and there's kind of a 'whoosh' sound and then a thud and more quiet rustling and I'm running and I can't find you and I'm scared, so scared to go in the trees and I want to go look for you but I'm scared." Tears squeezed out Sookie's eyes.

"Sookie, love, whatever you do, **do not** go in the trees! **Do not** go look for me! Run the other way!" Eric's voice was fierce. "Mary, can you make her see something else? Another vision now? I don't want her to see what happened next."

"I can try." Strain showed on Mary's face and she gripped Sookie's hand harder. "Ok, here's another one." Sookie relaxed a bit. 

"What do you see now, Lover?"

"I see people searching for you. No one can find you. No one ever found you. I see two older people... maybe my parents? They are angry with me, for going out to meet you, I think. They want to punish me. They are sending me to work. In a... in a... what looks like an alehouse of some kind? They are telling me that I will never find a husband. I told them..."

"You told them what, dear one?"

"I told them... I would never marry if I couldn't marry you."

"Oh, Sookie..."

"Oh, I see something else, Eric! This is different, a different place..."

"What, love?"

"It's cold! It looks like Russia. I'm wearing clothes that look like maybe the early 1800s? I'm at work again in what looks like an alehouse. Can't I do anything else? Sheesh. I'm serving vodka mostly, though, so I guess it's not technically an alehouse. It's late and almost time to go home. Someone has come in, great, and I was just about ready to go, too! I'd better see what they want. It's a group, actually. It's a group of... very pale men, strange looking. And a bull? And you! You're there. They must be vampires then." 

"A bull? Russia? Sookie, it's the St. Petersburg massacre! You have to get out of there!"

"You are looking at me. It's like you recognize me. You're across the room faster than I can see. There's going to be trouble and I need to leave. But I don't want to leave you. I've just found you!" 

"Sookie you have to leave! There's going to be a maenad! Phryne was even worse than Callisto!"

"Put me down! I want to stay with you!" Sookie's entire body had tensed up, gone rigid. Her expression was one of supreme indignance. 

"You're telling me to go home, stay safe, you will see me again. You locked the door to the alehouse from the inside. I... I don't know what happened after that, but now I'm arguing with what looks like my parents yet again. They want me to marry a horrible looking Russian man."

"You don't _want_ to know what happened with Phryne, lover. It's not my greatest memory." Eric replied.

"I'm telling my parents that I've already met my husband, he's coming back for me. He's tall, with long blond hair and piercing blue eyes. And even if he doesn't come back soon, I would rather wait. I can work and keep bringing in money, I don't need a husband."

Eric chuckled. "Always my independent Sookie."

Mary shifter in her chair. "I'm getting something else. Something different."

"Oh, I see it! I see gray skies and narrow cobblestone streets, and women in Victorian dresses. I see a great river, and barges, and lots of smoke coming from chimneys. This must be London! I'm walking down a street with lovely houses. There are lovely young women out for a stroll. One of them looks so familiar. It's... it's..."

"Pam." Eric said flatly. 

"Sweet Jesus, Shepherd of Judea it IS Pam! She's lovely! Well, I mean, even lovelier than now, because she looks like a living doll. So alive! Sparkling eyes and pink cheeks and lips. She looks like she's up to something, though."

"She was." Eric said, again flatly. "But you know that, she told you what happened the night she was turned. Pam was very vibrant and alive, and indeed up to no good, as you said. Sookie, please, don't watch what happens."

"But Eric, I wish you could see my clothes! I'm a well born lady this time! Like Pam! It looks like my house is just a few doors down from hers. I'm dressing to go to the theater and I have a lady's maid! I'm going down the front steps to our carriage. I see something out of the corner of my eye. It's a well dressed blonde gentleman standing in the shadows. He's very tall and his face has a sort of glow. He has long golden hair."

"You SAW me?" I was doing my best to be inconspicuous!"

"Well you weren't doing it well enough, sweetie. Nice top hat, by the way." Sookie giggled.

"It was the fashion of the times." Eric growled. 

"Uh huh. Sure. Anyway, you looked quite striking. I was very taken by you. At the theater my parents introduced me to a young man they thought might make a nice suitor. He was typically terrible. After we got home I got a lecture on how I should be seriously thinking about marriage - after all, I'm not getting any younger." Eric laughed at that. "The next day there was news that Pam had taken ill and died during the night. This made my parents more determined than ever that I should marry. And me more determined than ever that I should look for the handsome blonde stranger in the silly top hat that caught my eye."

Eric breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't seen what happened when he turned Pam. "But let me guess - you never saw me again?"

"Seems I was destined to be a spinster with a cat, sweetie." Sookie smiled, eyes still closed.

Mary shifted in her chair. "I see one final vision."

Sookie jerked upright, causing Eric to almost come off the couch in alarm. "Lover? What is it?"

She started laughing so hard she could hardly hold on to Mary's hand. "Sookie? What is it? What do you see?" Eric asked. 

"It's... it's Bill," she gasped, wiping her eyes with her free hand. 

"Bill COMPTON?" Eric was stunned.

She nodded. "I see the living room of my house, only it's furnished much differently. And Bill, well, he looks exactly the same, except alive. And he's wearing farmer's clothes from around the Civil War. I'm wearing a calico dress from the same time. He's asking for my hand in marriage. Oh, Eric, you should hear him. He's saying, "Miss Sookie, I may not have much, but I will love you for eternity." At that, she and Eric both burst out laughing. 

When they recovered, Sookie said, "I know it's horrible to laugh, but it's just so ironic. I mean, I can see in his head. He only wants to marry me so he can join our properties together and farm them both in one big plantation. I know he does love me in his way, Eric, but he's never been able to do it without an ulterior motive, it seems!" 

"What did you tell him, Lover?" 

"I told him that, while I appreciated his offer, I had to decline because I just didn't think he'd be a good husband to me. I'd rather be alone and take care of my property myself."

"Well done, Lover, I'm proud of you. Anyone who can survive everything you've survived in this life alone could've taken care of one small farm easily." 

Mary let go of Sookie's hand and they both opened their eyes, leaning back in their chairs. It had been a tiring experience for both of them.

"Well," Mary asked, "are you ready to piece it all together?"


	7. Chapter 7

_"Well," Mary asked, "are you ready to piece it all together?"_

"It's quite simple," she said.

"Reincarnation," said Eric. 

Mary nodded. "I'm guessing that her first vision is of when you were turned, Eric?" 

"Yes. I've never told anyone the exact details about how it happened. And to be honest, I had forgotten what I was doing on that road at dusk. I had forgotten that I used to whistle. I never whistle anymore, seeing as I don't breathe. I don't let myself remember much from my human life. But... now that she's described it, I remember. And I remember seeing her in the other places, as well."

"It makes sense. Your rational mind wouldn't let you see the same girl, century after century, at least not a living girl." Mary said.

"Lover, that rustling sound you heard in the trees, that was Appius. He had been watching me for some time, and was jealous of you, I suppose. He took me that night because he knew he couldn't let me belong to you. I stayed with him for many centuries, which is probably why you didn't reincarnate. It's interesting, though, that you appeared to me at some of the most memorable places of my long life. The St. Petersburg Massacre, Pam's turning. And of course the night you walked into Fangtasia with Bill for the first time was memorable in and of itself." He smiled.

"Eric, I'm confused on one point though. Why would I find Bill attractive, be in a relationship with him if I knew on such a deep level I was supposed to be with you?"

"Because, dear one, Bill threw a monkey wrench in the cosmic plan, as they say. He was under orders from the Queen, and he knew he had to make himself attractive to you. So he gave you his blood when you were attacked. Therefore, you were attracted to him because of his blood. Simple as that. But I knew as soon as I saw you there was something special about you and that I'd get you away from him eventually. And now I think we've taken enough of Mary's time tonight. It's almost dawn and I need to get you home." He helped her stand and led her out to the car.

On the way around the Corvette Mary asked, "This is the one you are bonded to?" 

"Yes, this is my bonded. Be sure to send me the bill for tonight. You can send it to Fangtasia, I will see that its taken care of."

"Oh, there's no charge. I like to help souls get where they are supposed to go." Mary smiled.

"Well, in that case... thank you." Eric smiled back.


	8. Chapter 8

I woke up to the sensation of being carried in cool arms, tucked against a cool chest. "Where are we?"

"We're home dearest. We're going to bed. It's almost dawn." 

"But this isn't my house." 

"No, love, it's mine. But I hope that someday, soon, you will think of it as your home as well." He carried me down a flight of stairs to a light safe room and laid me on a large bed. I let him undress me and slip one of his t-shirts over my head. It smelled of him, strong and male and reassuring. I could hear him quietly undressing in the dark. The bed creaked as he laid down beside me. Strong arms wrapped around me and held me close, inhaled the scent of my hair. 

"Sookie?"

"Yes?"

"I'm glad you're here. I've wanted to wake up next to you for a long time. I... I love you."

I smiled in the dark. "I love you, too, Eric. I'm finally right where I belong."

"Oh, and Sookie, one more thing."

"Yes, Eric?"

"Will you marry me?"


End file.
